Digital Government
Interim rules replace FIRMR; other guidance planned
The Clinton administration marked the first day of the postBrooks Act era last Thursday by issuing new regulations to replace the obsolete Federal Information Resources Management Regulation (FIRMR). The interim rules would carry out portions of the Information Technology Management Reform Act (IT
Digital Government
GATEC: A view from the front line
FIRST INITIAL You raised good questions and points in your editorial 'What's the problem with GATEC?' [FCW July 29]. I was the deputy to the commander at the WrightPatterson Contracting Center when we with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) doing the engineering and systems development
Digital Government
ROSTER
The Navy's first "Internet recruit," Operations Spc. Alan Shepherd, has completed his training and last month reported to his first assignment, the USS Curts, a fast frigate based in Yokuska, Japan. Shepherd was the first recruit to send in an electronicmail response to a Navy online recruiting
Digital Government
House mulls FY '97 funding
House lawmakers say they will reconsider providing funds to agencies as early as fiscal 1997 to fix Year 2000 software problems in computer systems. New appropriations would contradict positions Congress and the Office of Management and Budget took earlier this year, when both insisted that agencie
Digital Government
Lotus eyes DMS with Notes, Web offerings
Lotus Development Corp. expects to beef up offerings on the Defense Message System and other contracts with a slew of products introduced last week, including a Microsoft Windows NTfriendly version of Notes. Last week's announcements also covered Domino, the company's much anticipated World Wide W
Digital Government
USPS set to award $1B retail pact
The U.S. Postal Service is expected this week to award its landmark $1 billion, 10year Point of Service I contract, which is designed to deliver new retail and electronic commerce services and boost the service's mail delivery business. POS I will replace Unisys Corp. Integrated Retail Terminals (
Digital Government
Schedule 70A sales drop 11 percent
Business in the first half of fiscal 1996 went from bad to worse on General Services Administration Schedule 70A, according to a new report by International Data Corp. Overall, revenue for Schedule 70A for Unix workstations and other large systemsrelated products dropped 11 percent compared wi
Digital Government
GSA to test competition in large metropolitan areas
The General Services Administration last month unveiled plans to award by the end of next year the first in a series of contracts designed to spur competition for telecommunications services in large metropolitan areas that have a high concentration of federal users. GSA's Federal Telecommunication
Digital Government
New regs help FASA, FARA, ITMRA get going
The Clinton administration and the General Accounting Office have issued more than a dozen regulations that carry out various provisions of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act, the Federal Acquisition Reform Act and the Information Technology Management Reform Act, including: Repeal, as of Aug
Digital Government
Survey finds feds behind curve
House members said they were 'appalled' by a survey released last week that showed a majority of federal agencies have done very little to develop plans to cope with the Year 2000 problem, prompting the House oversight committee that conducted the survey to issue failing grades for most agencies. O
Digital Government
NARA's plan: More rhetorical vision than working strategy
Now is the time for all good people to tell the National Archives and Records Administration how to get its act together. NARA recently issued an ambitious, 10year strategic plan (available at http://www.nara.gov) titled 'Ready Access to Essential Evidence' and is seeking feedback on the plan from
Digital Government
HP, Lexmark debut new printers at both ends of market
Printer market rivals HewlettPackard Co. and Lexmark International Inc. both announced new printers in the last week each targeting different parts of the market with prices ranging from less than $250 to nearly $15 000. Lexmark introduced a color inkjet printer that can serve small offices while
Digital Government
Appeals process packed with pitfalls
A recent case brought before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit shows how difficult it is for feds to wend their way through the thicket of confusing rules and regulations covering appeals and grievance procedures. This case involved a distribution clerk with the U.S. Postal Service
Digital Government
DOD taps NASA for charting mission
The armed services and the scientific community will have access to a previously unavailable wealth of topographic data as a result of a cooperative agreement inked last month by the Defense Mapping Agency and NASA. Under a memorandum of understanding signed by the two agencies, NASA will launch th
Digital Government
Industry seeks federal partnership
Industry is aiming to pressure government to work with it on standards for digital mapping technology, a move that would go a long way toward tying together the estimated $5 billion worth of geospatial data the government generates every year. Corporations and industry consultants recently formed a
Digital Government
Gavel falls for last time on IT protest jurisdiction
Wednesday is the final day that the General Services Administration's Board of Contract Appeals can accept bid protests for information technology contracts, concluding its decadelong role as an arbiter for these oftencontentious cases. Beginning Thursday, vendors seeking relief from alleged cont
Digital Government
Protest Rains on Award
The recent agreement by the National Center for Atmospheric Research to lease NEC Corp. supercomputers has sparked allegations of dumping by unsuccessful bidder Cray Research (see story, page 10). NCAR uses supercomputers to conduct atmospheric and related research, such as the climate change proje
Digital Government
Draft RFP released for Virtual Data Center Services program
The General Services Administration late last month released the final draft request for proposals for a governmentwide program for outsourcing services called the Virtual Data Center Services program. GSA's Federal Systems Integration and Management Center (Fedsim) anticipates releasing an RFP by
Digital Government
House boosts Justice; Commerce, State suffer
In its continuing effort to fight crime, the House last month approved increases for many Justice Department information technology programs, particularly those in the FBI and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. But those increases came at a cost. The House approved smaller increases for so
Digital Government